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BT
Who?
BT Global Services
What was the writing challenge?
The telecoms giant’s new tone of
voice guidelines placed a far greater emphasis on expression
and emotion. It was a brave step. To help staff in its
Global Services marketing department feel more assured
with the new style,
BT asked Writing Machine to develop a series
of courses designed to increase employee’s writing
confidence.
What Writing Machine did
Four courses were delivered to a wide range
of employees over a period of six months. By focusing on
raising confidence levels regardless of the individual’s
inherent writing skill, we were able to teach the course
to an enormously disparate audience. From highly experienced
copywriters to people for whom English was not even a native
tongue.
What Writing Machine did next
As a result of the feedback received
from these courses, the Broadcast Services department has
now
decided it too could benefit from some writing training.
A subsequent course was delivered several months later.
Microsoft
Who?
The Microsoft marketing department at Reading
What was the writing challenge?
As you’d expect from the world’s
largest software company, Microsoft run a large number
of online newsletters, both internal and external. Taking
the maxim that if something is worth doing it is worth
doing excellently, Microsoft asked Writing Machine to deliver
a course that would enable them to make their online newsletters
more exciting.
What Writing Machine did
A half-day course, appropriately named ‘Bringing
Life to Online Newsletters’, empowered learners to
subedit copy into a more engaging tone, and taught a number
of techniques designed to add spice to even the dullest
subject matter.
What Writing Machine did next
Feedback from the course has been exceptionally
positive. So much so, that Microsoft requested soft copy
versions of some of the workbook sections, in order to
distribute amongst their colleagues.
UK Trade and Investment
Who?
UK Trade and Investment
is a division of the Department of Trade and Industry.
What was the writing challenge?
UK Trade and Investment felt it needed
some direction in terms of its approach to producing written
copy. This
meant
not
only examining how to construct a piece, but also how to
determine the best delivery mechanism for a particular
message.
Brochure or case study? Article or report?
What Writing Machine did
Over a five month period, Writing Machine
delivered seven courses. The focus was achieving greater
clarity of expression, determining writing objectives and
adding the all-important flourishes that make the difference
between good copy and great copy.
What Writing Machine did next
The venture is an ongoing, unqualified
success. To date, over one hundred staff have now been
trained and more courses are planned for the future. To
read a
case study about this experience, please
click here.
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